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Translated Texts for Historians This series is designed to meet the needs of students of ancient and medieval history and others who wish to broaden their study by reading source material, but whose knowledge of Latin or Greek is not sufficient to allow them to do so in the original language. Many important Late Imperial and Dark Age texts are currently unavailable in translation and it is hoped that TTH will help to fill this gap and to complement the secondary literature in English which already exists. The series relates principally to the period 300–800 AD and includes Late Imperial, Greek, Byzantine and Syriac texts as well as source books illustrating a particular period or theme. Each volume is a self-contained scholarly translation with an introductory essay on the text and its author and notes on the text indicating major problems of interpreta- tion, including textual difficulties. Editorial Committee Sebastian Brock, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford Henry Chadwick, Oxford John Davies, University of Liverpool Carlotta Dionisotti, King’s College, London Peter Heather, King’s College, London Robert Hoyland, University of St Andrews William E. Klingshirn, The Catholic University of America Michael Lapidge, Clare College, Cambridge Robert Markus, University of Nottingham John Matthews, Yale University Claudia Rapp, University of California, Los Angeles Raymond Van Dam, University of Michigan Michael Whitby, University of Warwick Ian Wood, University of Leeds General Editors Gillian Clark, University of Bristol Mark Humphries, Swansea University Mary Whitby, University of Liverpool A full list of published titles in the Translated Texts for Historians series is available on request. The most recently published are shown below. Avitus of Vienne: Letters and Selected Prose Translated with introduction and notes by DANUTA SHANZER and IAN WOOD Volume 38: 472pp., 2002, ISBN 0-85323-588-0 Constantine and Christendom: The Oration to the Saints, The Greek and Latin Accounts of the Discovery of the Cross, The Edict of Constantine to Pope Silvester Translated with introduction and notes by MARK EDWARDS Volume 39: 192pp., 2003, ISBN 0-85323-648-8 Lactantius: Divine Institutes Translated with introduction and notes by ANTHONY BOWEN and PETER GARNSEY Volume 40: 488pp., 2003, ISBN 0-85323-988-6 Selected Letters of Libanius from the Age of Constantius and Julian Translated with introduction and notes by SCOT BRADBURY Volume 41: 308pp., 2004, ISBN 0-85323-509-0 Cassiodorus: Institutions of Divine and Secular Learning and On the Soul Translated and notes by JAMES W. HALPORN; Introduction by MARK VESSEY Volume 42: 316 pp., 2004, ISBN 0-85323-998-3 Ambrose of Milan: Political Letters and Speeches Translated with an introduction and notes by J. H. W. G. LIEBESCHUETZ and CAROLE HILL Volume 43: 432pp., 2005, ISBN 0-85323-829-4 The Chronicle of Ireland Translated with an introduction and notes by T. M. CHARLES-EDWARDS Volume 44: 2 vols., 349pp. + 186pp., 2006, ISBN 0-85323-959-2 The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon Translated with an introduction and notes by RICHARD PRICE and MICHAEL GADDIS Volume 45: 3 vols., 365pp. + 312pp. + 312pp., 2005, ISBN 0-85323-039-0 Bede: On Ezra and Nehemiah Translated with an introduction and notes by SCOTT DEGREGORIO Volume 47: 304pp, 2006, ISBN 978-1-84631-001-0 For full details of Translated Texts for Historians, including prices and or- dering information, please write to the following: All countries, except the USA and Canada: Liverpool University Press, 4 Cambridge Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZU, UK (Tel +44-[0]151-794 2233, Fax +44-[0]151-794 2235, Email J.M. [email protected], http://www.liverpool- unipress.co.uk). USA and Canada: University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL, 60637, US (Tel 773-702-7700, Fax 773-702-9756, www.press.uchicago.edu) Translated Texts for Historians Volume 49 NEMESIUS On the Nature of Man Translated with an introduction and notes by R. W. SHARPLES and P. J. VAN DER EIJK Liverpool University Press First published 2008 Liverpool University Press 4 Cambridge Street Liverpool, L69 7ZU Copyright © 2008 R. W. Sharples and P. J. van der Eijk The right of R. W. Sharples and P. J. van der Eijk to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A British Library CIP Record is available. ISBN 978-1-84631-132-1 limp Set in Times by Koinonia, Manchester Printed in the European Union by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow CONTENTS Preface vii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 1 The importance of Nemesius 1 2 Nemesius and the scope of his treatise 2 3 Nemesius’ Christianity 5 4 Nemesius’ views 7 5 Nemesius’ sources 18 Nemesius, On the Nature of Man 1 On the nature of man 35 2 On the soul 51 3 On the union of soul and body 78 4 On the body 87 5 On the elements 91 6 On imagination 100 7 On sight 104 8 On touch 109 9 On taste 114 10 On hearing 116 11 On smell 116 12 On thought 117 13 On memory 118 14 On immanent and expressed reason 123 15 Another division of the soul 125 16 On the non-rational part or kind of the soul, which is also called the affective and appetitive 127 17 On the desirous part 132 18 On pleasures 134 19 On distress 140 vi CONTENTS 20 On anger 141 21 On fear 142 22 On the non-rational element that is not capable of obeying reason 145 23 On the nutritive faculty 145 24 On pulsation 150 25 On the generative or seminal faculty 153 26 Another division of the powers controlling living beings 157 27 On movement according to impulse or choice, which belongs to the appetitive part 158 28 On respiration 161 29 On the intentional and unintentional 168 30 On the unintentional 169 31 On the unintentional through ignorance 172 32 On the intentional 174 33 On choice 176 34 About what things do we deliberate? 180 35 On fate 184 36 On what is fated through the stars 186 37 On those who say that choice of actions is up to us 188 38 On Plato’s account of fate 190 39 On what is up to us, or on autonomy 194 40 Concerning what things are up to us 197 41 For what reason were we born autonomous? 200 42 On providence 204 43 About what matters there is providence 209 Bibliography 222 Index of passages cited 235 General index 255 PREFACE This translation is a substantially revised version of one initially prepared (but never published) by J. O. Urmson. In addition to Urmson’s own draft, we have also had the benefit of Gillian Clark’s comments on the earlier part of it. The revision of the translation, and the writing of the notes and sections of the Introduction that relate to sections 1–3 and 29–43, were initially undertaken by RWS, that relating to sections 4–28 by PJvdE, but we have each revised the other’s work so that the result is throughout a joint production. Some of the notes are taken over from Urmson’s draft. Parts of the Introduction derive from a paper given by RWS in London in March 2005 and in Leiden in May 2005, and from presentations given by PJvdE in London in November 2005, in Freiburg in July 2006, in Princeton in October 2006, in Toronto and Philadelphia in November 2006, in Budapest and Rostock in June 2007, and in Hamburg in July 2007, and we acknowledge contri butions made in discussion there, as well as comments on draft translation and notes, in particular by Han Baltussen, Chris Carey, Gillian Clark, Patricia Crone, Erik Eliasson, Bill Fortenbaugh, Emma Gannagé, Jim Hankinson, Jean-Michel Hulls, David Langslow, Gert-Jan Lokhorst, Vivian Nutton, Raffaele Passarella, Peter Pormann, David Runia, Mark Schiefsky, Heinrich von Staden and Mary Whitby. PJvdE would like to acknowledge the technical support of Sarah Francis and the financial support of his con- tribution to this publication by the Wellcome Trust and by the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where his part of the work was completed. The translation is based on Morani’s 1987 Teubner text; variations from this are noted. (We share the view of Mansfeld and Runia (1996) 292 n.4 that Morani was too ready to delete material because it is not reflected in the Armenian translation.) The apparatus of parallels in Morani (1987) and that in Verbeke and Moncho (1975) has been of very considerable assis- tance to us in preparing the notes, as have the translation and the comments in Telfer (1955) and the discussion in Streck (2005). Telfer’s notes were written from the perspective of a specialist in patristics. Neither of us is an expert in this field; our specialisms are in pagan Greek philosophy and, in viii PREFACE the case of PJvdE, in ancient Greek medicine. Given Nemesius’ extensive dependence on pagan philosophical and medical sources, these areas of ex- pertise do not seem inappropriate for commenting on his work. However, those whose interest in Nemesius’ treatise is primarily in his place in the history of Christian theology and in his views – explicit or implied – on matters of Christian doctrine should also consult Telfer and other relevant literature in our Bibliography. In giving translations of passages from other ancient authors cited in the notes we have been guided by several more or less pragmatic consider- ations; the importance of full quotation for the point being made, the amount of text that would need to be quoted, and the accessibility of the text in translation. For the last-mentioned reason full quotations are given of some medical texts in particular. We have not, except where it seemed particularly important to do so, quoted in full those parallel texts which are accessible in the Loeb Classical Library or in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series edited by Richard Sorabji; nor have we quoted passages which are included in standard sourcebooks such as Long and Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers (LS – see our Abbreviations and Bibliography) or Sorabji, The Philosophy of the Commentators (2004), to which we have instead given references. The summaries in italics at the start of individual chapters or connected groups of chapters are our own; they are not part of the original text. PJvdE, RWS Newcastle and London, April 2007